Supporting Vaccination: A Toolkit for CHWs
a digital training to expand understanding and uptake of vaccinations around the world
Community health workers (CHWs) are trusted, reliable sources of health information for millions of people worldwide. They play a vital role in promoting healthy behaviors, and have enormous potential to contribute to global vaccination efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. However, in the face of rampant misinformation and other barriers, CHWs often lack adequate support to effectively increase vaccine confidence.
We’ve created the free digital toolkit below to equip CHWs with the knowledge and strategies to increase vaccine acceptance in their communities.
About the Project
• Strong feelings of mistrust around vaccines in the community
• Lack of materials to reference for educating people in the community
• Lack of training opportunities related to vaccination
• Perception of few trusted sources for reliable health information
• Lack of scientific knowledge about coronavirus, vaccines, side effects and other common concerns
• Limited time
• Personal fears about vaccination
With these challenges in mind, the Supporting Vaccination toolkit is designed to equip a global audience of CHWs with the knowledge and confidence to educate communities about the importance of vaccination, and to guide people through the vaccination process.
The toolkit aims to provide learners with:
• A clear understanding of how viruses and vaccines function
• Communication methods for educating others about the benefits of vaccination and countering vaccine misinformation, with empathy at the core
• An ability to determine individuals’ vaccination readiness and to encourage concurrent prevention strategies.
Using the Toolkit
The toolkit contains 10 animated videos, also available as audio-only files. Additionally, it includes a complementary series of static graphics, all shareable via mobile chat platforms such as WhatsApp.
Health workers can access and revisit the materials in any order, at any time. A subset of the content is also appropriate for CHWs to share with their communities as teaching tools. In total, it should take about 100 minutes to review the materials.
All content is freely available under the Creative Commons (CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0) license.
*Note: Videos and complementary files are being released as they are completed, the full training will be available July 2022.
Video Series
Virus and Vaccine 101
This video provides an overview of how a virus spreads, invades the body’s cells, and results in symptoms, as well as how a vaccine works to use the body’s natural immune response to protect us from these germs. Specific attention is paid to the unique aspects of the COVID-19 virus, the mRNA vaccine, the vaccine variations and boosters that are a source of confusion.
Vaccine Side Effects and Adverse Events
This video reviews common side effects of vaccination, and the difference between these side effects and adverse events including allergic reactions. It also explains why side effects happen and how to manage symptoms when they occur.